Method and appabattts eoe



G. J. CORPORON. METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BLANCHING PEANUTS.

7 APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13, 1920- 1,381,082, Patented June 7, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1'.

g fay; Jbzpfim; //1 Z wflw mw G. J. GORPORON.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BLANCHING PEANUTS.

APPLiCATlON FILED Nov, 13, 1920.

1,381,082, PatentedJune 7, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES,

.PATEQNT OFFICE.

GEORGE a. conr'onon, onnivrnsisnny, MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD AND nrrnianrus non BLANCHING PEANUTS.

Specificationof Letters Patent.

Application filed November 13, 1920. Serial No. 423,816.

To aZZwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE J. Conronon, citizen of the United States, residin at Amesbury, in the county of Essex and tate of Massachusetts, have invented certain'new and useful Improvements in Methods and Apparatus'for Blanching Peanuts, of which the following is a specification, reference be ing had therein to the accompanying draw-- "mg.

This invention relates to the nut blanching art and the principal object of the invention is to' provide an improved method and ap-.

paratus: for blanching peanuts without liability of breaking the nuts.

1 1 ".Another object of theinventionis topro panying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings 1 Figure 1 is a top planview of my improved apparatus by which the method may be carried out. 7 r p Fig. 2is aside view of the same. Fig. 3 is an end view.

Fig. & is a detalled sectional view taken on line 44 of Fig. 1'.

Fig. 5 is a detailed view ofone of the ball bearings in which each end of the throwing rolls or cylinders is mounted.

In the drawings, 1 represents a bed-plate which may be formed of any suitable material and is preferably of rectangular shape. The table is provided at one end with two inextensible legs 2 and at itsopposite end it is provided with two short legs. 3 (only one of which-is shown inthe drawing) and each of theseshort legs is provided with a longitudinal slot 1 to receive a pin- 5 carried by. a leg extension 6. The pin 5 is provided.

with a thumb-nut? for locking'the short leg?) to the leg extension an adjustable manner. Bythis construction the bed-plate- 1 may be set at an angle relatively to the horizontal so that the nuts treated will have a tendency to moveby gravity toward the end of the machine having the legs 2.

Mounted on the bed-plate 1 is a bearing casing 8 which is preferably hollow in order tocontain oil whichrnay be inserted through [an opening closedby the nut 9. Mounted in the casing 8 is a transversely extending flPatnted June 7,1921. 1 i

horizontal shaft 10 providedat one end with a drivingpulley 11 and furnished. within the casing with a' number of fixed bevel gears 12. i i

As best shown in Fig. 5 the casing 8 is provided with ball-bearings 13 in which are mounted the ends of shafts 141, which extend into the casing 8 and terminate in bevel gears 15 which mesh with the bevel gears 12. 'Mounted on each shaft 14 is a blanching roll or cylinder 16 which has its periphery roughened or milled as shown at 17in Fig. 4E.

Arranged above each roller 16 is a lo'ngi tudinally extending trough'18 formed of an inclined plate 19, a vertical plate'20 and a horizontal plate21. It will be noted that the inner surfaces of the plates 19, 20 and 21 are roughened or milled as shown at 22.. One of'the troughs 18 extends the full length of each roller 16 and nuts are fed into the troughs 18 from a feed hopper 23 whichis I carried by the casing 8 and extends across the feed endsofall the rollers 16. The discharge ends of the troughs 18 are arranged adjacent to a transverse endless conveyer 24: which "receives the separated nutsand skins from the troughs 18 and conveys the nuts to a receiver 25.. Arranged provided with end walls 27 whichfextend to the opposite ends of the endless conveyer, and having side walls 28 which extend to the opposite sides of the conveyer.-

The upperportion' of the conduit 26 is'prof videdwith a suction fan 29 driven by a pulley 30 and discharging into a pipe 31.

With the foregoing machine my process is carried out inthe following ;manner: The. nuts with. their skins attached are placed in the hopper 23 and they will fall through the openings 32 in the bottom of the hopperinto feed" ends of the troughs above the conveyer 24 is a flared conduit 26 18. The rollers 16 will of course be rotated from any suitable source of power connected to the pulley ll. and as the nuts strike the rollers 16 they will be thrown by centrifugal action against the plates 20 and 21 and will fall backwardly upon the plates 19. Owing to the inner surfaces of the plates 19, 20 and 21 being roughened, the skins-of the nuts wi l be scraped or d1s lodged from the nuts and after the nuts have first been thrown into contact with the plates they will fall and again strike the rollers 16 and the rollers will again throw the same against the plates and so on until the discharge ends of the hoppers are reached. The inclination of the rollers caused by the adjustment of the leg extension 6 enables the nuts to move toward the discharge ends of the troughs as the rollers 16 are revolved.

The height to which the nuts may be thrown by the rollers may be regulated by adjusting the top plates 21. In order to permit this the top plates are carried, by bolts 33 which are swiveled to said plates, and these bolts are supported by brackets 34 which extend upwardly from the bedplatel.

When the nuts with their removed skins reach the endless conveyer 2% they are deposited thereon, and the suction created by the fan 29 will draw the skins upwardly and discharge the same through the pipe 31 while the nuts will travel toward the receiver 25 and will be deposited therein.

The speed of the rollers 16 may be adjusted in order to regulate the amount of centrifugal force imparted to the nuts passing through the troughs 18 and hence the machine may be regulated to take care of nuts of various kinds and conditions. i

From the foregoing I believe that the construction and advantages of improved apparatus and method may be readily understood, but I am aware that various changes may be made in the construction shown without departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing its advantages.

What I-claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is:

1. A method of blanching nuts consisting in utilizing centrifugal force to repeatedly throw'the nuts against roughened surfaces which cause the skins to be separated from the nuts, and simultaneously moving the nuts along an inclined plane.

2. A method of blanching nuts consisting in intermittently feeding the same along an inclined plane, utilizing centrifugal force to cause the nuts to be thrown against j roughened surfaces, and permitting the nuts to fall from the roughened surfaces onto other roughened surfacesarranged at angles thereto.

3. A nut blanching machine including aroller provided with a non-yielding roughened periphery, a covered trough extending longitudinally of said roller and having its bottom formed by said roller, said covered trough having its inner faces roughened to provide hard abradant surfaces.

4. A machine of the kind defined by clalm 3 in which the trough is formed of three longitudinally extending plates arranged at angles to each other."

5. A machine of the kind defined by claim 3 in which the trough is formed of longitudinally extending plates arranged at angles to each other, and means for adjusting one of said plates relatively to the other plates. I

6.. A machine of the kind defined by claim 3 in which the trough includes an adjustable plate, brackets, and threaded bolts carried by said brackets and swiveled to said plate.

7. A nut blanching machine including a roller provided with a roughened periphery,

- a trough arranged above said periphery and having its bottom formed by the periphery, said trough including a plurality of angularly arranged plates provided with roughened inner surfaces, and a feed hopper for discharging nuts into said trough.

8. A machine of the kind defined by claim 3 having a hopper for feeding nuts into said trough, and a conveyer receiving the nuts discharged from said trough.

9. A nut blanching machine comprising a casing, a rotatable shaft mounted in said casing and provided with a bevel gear, a

hopper carried by said casing, a roller havl ing its ends rotatably mountedin said casing, a shaft extending through said roller and provided with a beveled gear which meshes with the gear of the first named shaft, a conveyer, and a trough extending longitudinally of said roller between the hopper and the conveyer, the inner surfaces of said trough being roughened and the periphery of the roller forming the bottom of the trough.

10. A nut blanching machine including a number of cooperating troughs'and rollers, an endless conveyer receiving nuts and skins discharged from said troughs, and a flared conduit having its mouth opening over said conveyer and provided with a suction fan for separating the skins from the nuts.

11. A'nut blanching machine comprising a bed-plate having legs at one end and provided at its opposite end with adjustable legs, a hollow casing carried by said bedplate and provided with a horizontal shaft, a plurality of shafts extending'intosaid casing and having gears which mesh with the gears of the first named shaft, aiplurality of rollers mounted on said plurality of shafts and having roughened peripheries,

a hopper carried by said casing, an endless with a suction fan for separating skins from conveyer, troughs arranged above said rollnuts discharged onto said endless conveyer, 10

ers and having roughened inner surfaces, In testimony whereof I hereunto afix my the bottoms of said troughs being formed by signature in the presence of two witnesses the peripheries of said rollers, said troughs r GEORGE J. CORPORON." [L. s.] extending from the hop-per to theendless Witnesses: conveyer, and a flared conduit arranged J 01am GIBBONS,

above the, endless conveyer and provided JAMES E. MQGR TH. 

